Theodore Roosevelt

1901: A New Kind of President

1901–1909: Big Stick Diplomat and Peacemaker

In 1890, naval Captain Alfred T. Mahan published a book
entitled The Influence of Sea Power Upon History in
which he emphasized the importance of naval power in maintaining
national strength. He argued that a nation, in order to have a
strong navy, must have ports and colonies throughout the world where
their fleet could anchor safely. These colonies and foreign ports
would also benefit the home nation with trade. By the 1890s, the
United States had already been expanding outward to Alaska and
Hawaii. Mahan's book took this expansionism a step further to advocate
imperialism. This imperialist sentiment was further amplified by
Rudyard Kipling's notorious poem "The White Man's Burden," which
claimed that the Caucasian people were the protectors of the world
under God and that it was their duty to lead others towards the
light of democracy. With both Mahan's and Kipling's beliefs in
mind, fewer men were more ardent imperialists than Theodore Roosevelt.
Throughout his presidency, he sought colonies and ports all over
the world to exert American influence.

The end of the Spanish-American War brought new problems
to the United States–namely what to do with the colonies that had been
liberated from Spanish rule. On the one hand, imperialists within
the government argued that America's interests would be best served
in keeping the former Spanish colonies as American colonies. The
Philippines, they argued, would serve as both a trading port for
American interests in Asia and a military base from which to project
power. They also argued that if the United States failed to claim
the Philippines as its own, another European country would simply
conquer the island after the American troops left. On the other
hand, the anti- imperialists–those who felt the United States should
promote independence and self-determination for all peoples throughout
the world–argued that retaining the Philippines countered the entire
reasoning behind fighting the Spanish in the first place. In the
end, the Senate chose to annex the Philippines. Feeling betrayed
by the United States, Filipino guerillas led by Emilio Aguinaldo,
who had originally fought alongside the American forces against
the Spanish, turned and waged a bloody insurrection against American
occupation that lasted several years. Ironically, more Americans
died fighting the guerillas in the Philippines than fighting in
the Spanish-American War. The Philippines issue was never fully
resolved until the nation was granted independence in 1946.

Similar controversies ensued over former Spanish territories
in the Caribbean, particularly the islands of Puerto Rico and Cuba. U.S.
troops occupied Puerto Rico after the war until 1900, at which time
troops were recalled and the U.S. Senate decided to annex Puerto
Rico as a U.S. territory. Fortunately for American forces, the Puerto
Ricans did not resist as much as the Filipinos. The Foraker Act
established the territorial government on the island, creating a
legislature called the House of Delegates and an island Governor and
Executive Council that were chosen by the President of the United
States. Although Cuba was granted political autonomy, the Senate
inserted the Platt Amendment in Cuba's new constitution, which
authorized the United States to intervene in the affairs of Cuba
anytime it felt necessary to maintain political stability. The amendment
also hindered Cuba's foreign relations by stating that the U.S.
had to approve of all Cuban treaties with other countries. These
provisions effectively destroyed any true independence and subjugated
Cuba to American control.

With the Philippines now annexed, the United States began
seeking Asian markets to buy U.S. goods. In the late 1800s and
early 1900s, China had been defeated in a series of wars and was
consequently being divided by the victors, namely Japan, Great
Britain, France, Germany, and Russia. To assert its newfound power
in Asia, the United States, led by President McKinley and his imperialist
Vice President Roosevelt and Secretary of State John Hay, instituted
the Open Door Policy, which declared that all nations–not just
the European powers–had the right to colonize China. Initially, most
of the victors refused to acknowledge this policy until the United
States sent troops to China to help France, Germany, and England
quell the Chinese Boxer Rebellion against the colonial powers.
Once the rebellion had been eliminated, Europe looked more favorably
on the United States and allowed American access to Chinese markets.

The United States also exerted its influence in Central
America when President Roosevelt "took" Panama, at that time a
rebellious province of Colombia. Since the 1850s, the United States
had dreamed of building a canal in Central America to link the
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Until Roosevelt's presidency, however,
the only serious effort to build a canal had ended in failure.
Determined to make those dreams a reality, Roosevelt initially offered
the Colombian government an offer of ten million dollars for a
100-year lease on Panama. When Colombia refused, Roosevelt secretly
sent money to hire Panamanian mercenaries to revolt and declare
independence from Colombia. The bloodless rebellion took place
in November 1903; only one person died. The rebels immediately declared
themselves the government of the Republic of Panama and within
days signed a treaty allowing the U.S. to begin construction of
the canal. Colombia, a poor nation with little military might, could
do nothing. In later years, Roosevelt was heavily criticized for his
use of unethical methods in obtaining Panama. At the same time,
however, it was difficult for many to find fault for Roosevelt's achievement
of the rather lucrative impossible dream.